Vakhsh River Basin (VRB), Tajikistan

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Vakhsh River Basin (VRB), Tajikistan
Inom Sh. NormatovInstitute of Water Problems,
Hydropower and Ecology AS RT, 734002, Dushanbe,
12, Parvin street, e-mail owp_at_tojikiston.com
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Present State-of -art methodology

• Vakhsh River Basin is one of the main basins
  which supports the life and livelihoods of
  several hundred thousands people in Tajikistan.
  From the beginning of 30s of the last century
  water resources development has been taking place
  in VRB. Since Vakhsh is a transboundary river
  system- other downstream countries of the Central
  Asia also have strategic interest on is water
  resources.
• For example Vakhsh have of all hydropower
  resources of Amu Darya basin. Potential power
  resources of Vakhsh is about 28.6 mln.kWt, it can
  provide up to 250bln.kWt/hour of electric power
  per year.

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Main issues

• Significant water losses together with ecological
  and economic problems in VRB are connected with
  unsatisfactory condition of infrastructures,
  hydraulic structures such as irrigation canals
  and drainage systems. Taking this account, it is
  necessary to carry out restoration and
  maintenances of technical facilities and
  improvement of water related structures and
  facilities. The local irrigating systems worsened
  to the greater degree in comparison with regional
  irrigating systems. The newly established
  organizations such as agricultural farms and
  water user associations are economically weak and
  do not have ability to operate and maintain
  irrigating systems properly.

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• Tajikistan cant fully cover water resources
  expenses. This is due to an inadequate tariff on
  water supply (0.15 cents per 1m3, where as real
  price is 0.82 cents). Because of this 15-20
  reductions in the irrigation network were
  observed, similarly the loss of pumping system
  was about to 20-30. The water losses and poor
  infrastructure have caused the increasing
  unreliable water supply system. Water supply
  system is not only affected by poor
  infrastructures but also because of poor
  management and governance.
• Ecology of the VRB is deteriorated in recent
  years. Drastic decline of hydropower production
  and reduction of natural gas, coal and other
  energy resources in 90s caused massive
  deforestations. From 1992 to 2001, 100 thousand
  hectares of forest area have been destroyed.
  Desertification and soil erosion are everywhere
  in the upstream hilly areas due to deforestation.

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• There are more than 50 thousand registered land
  slides areas, 1200 of them pose a threat to
  settlements. humus losses are increasing. Annual
  soil wash out is about 87 million tons, where as
  humus loss reaches 11-13 million tons each year.
  The main environmental problems of VRB are
  inadequate access to potable water, land
  degradation (decrease in fertility) and
  degradation of ecosystem.
• Water supply and sewage systems are very
  important to maintain live and livelihood of the
  population and economy. The main sources of
  potable water in VRB are open water sources.
  About 75 of water comes to systems from such
  sources. About half of VRB population doesnt
  have access to the centralized water supply
  system and use River and irrigational canals as a
  of source drinking water. Approximately 90 of
  urban VRB population is provided with water
  supply system, but in rural areas this figure
  does not exceed to 45. Because of rapid
  population growth uncontrolled urbanization is
  everywhere. People even use agricultural lands
  for settlements. This increases pressure on water
  resources.

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• The organizational structure of water resources
  management in Tajikistan is a very complex with
  multiple structures. Water resources planning,
  irrigation management are under Ministry of
  Melioration and Water Resources. There are some
  overlapping with the Ministry of Energy, which is
  responsible for hydropower generation in the
  country. There are several layers and multiple
  departments with overlapping responsibility for
  water resources monitoring (data collection and
  analysis etc..). Water resources in Tajikistan
  are regulated by its constitution and several
  articles Water Code, Land Code, Civil Code, and
  existing law related to natural resources, local
  self-management and a number of other government
  decrees. Responsibilities of the ministries and
  the departments involved in planning and water
  resources management show that many functions are
  overlapped. Strictly centralized authority and
  multiple departmental interests do not allow the
  effective use of available human and
  institutional resources.

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Baseline condition in the basin
(a) Geographical Characteristics

• The Vakhsh River Basin (VRB) is a large basin
  with territory (31200 km2) located in the highest
  part of Central Asia. The upper part of VRB is
  located on the northern part of Pamir within the
  Pamir- Alays ridges, the medium and lower parts
  of this catchments are located in semi-arid zone
  of the Southern Tajikistan. Vakhsh valley is
  located in the southwest part of Tajikistan at an
  altitude of 329-445 m above sea level.

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Geographical longitude and latitude of Vakhsh
River Basin

• At a source of the river Vakhsh
• 38?42I 10II northern latitude
• 70?04I 00II east longitude
• At downstream Vakhsh river outlet
• 37?02I 00II northern latitude
• 38?20I 05II east longitude

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• . In the Vakhsh valley the monthly average air
  reaches 28,4 ?? -31,4??, and annual average is
  15,7 ?? -16,7??.
• There are about 569 mountain lakes with the total
  area of 17,37 km2 in the VRB. They are located at
  the height of 2800-3500 m and basically represent
  small reservoirs of some square meters up to
  1km2. VRB is characterized by rather high silt
  and sediment load (2900 t/km2). Average value of
  turbidity of the Vakhsh river exceeds 4000 g/m2 .
  High values of the sediment and silt load are
  explained by loose mineral rock in the water
  courses and lack of vegetation cover in the VRB.

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• The Vakhash is the main river of Republic of
  Tajikistan, merging with Pyanj river it forms
  Amu-Darya - the biggest river of the Central
  Asia. The Vakhsh is 691km long. The Vakhash has a
  basin area of 39160 km2-almost is a quarter of
  Tajikistan. The Vakhsh River has 6276 tributaries
  and 20 lakes covering the total area of 4 km2.
  Glacier and snow are the main source of Vakhash.
  More than 40 of its flow comes during July to
  September from thawed glaciers. Thawing of
  seasonal snows, springs and rains constitute
  Vakhash flow. The mean discharge at the head
  structure of the Vakhsh main canal is 2273 m3 per
  second, the maximum discharge is about 4500 m3
  per second, and the minimum discharge is 1420 m3
  per second. March to October flow constitutes
  about 87 of annual flow.

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(b) Demographical features

• The basic demographic characteristics and
  agricultural production in VRB are presented in
  tables 3-15.

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(c) Land Forms and Land uses
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• The main sources of drinking water in VRB are
  open water sources (rivers, irrigational canals,
  small reservoirs). Approximately 75 of water in
  the supply systems comes from such sources. The
  quantity of water consumed for industrial needs
  (normative) is 13633,8 m3 / day. The amount of
  water consumed for residential needs (normative)
  is 119,25m3/day or 38947,9 m3/year. Waste water
  production from residential area is 75,4 m3
  /daily and is collected through sewage system of
  Kurgan -Tube city. The water volume used for
  household needs makes about 6 of the total
  water supply which is about 1.2 billion m3.
  Approximately the ratio is typical for VRB. The
  main environmental problems for VRB are lack of
  access to good quality water, soil degradation
  (reduction in fertility) and ecosystems
  degradation. Water quality deterioration is
  connected with the absence of necessary treatment
  facilities, and inappropriate and inadequate
  management of water resources for rapidly growing
  population.

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(b) Environmental Characteristics

• It is observed that VRB rivers are highly
  mineralized with chlorides and sulfates. VRB
  rivers are polluted with minerals fertilizers and
  pesticides from the irrigated land.

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• The swampy area in irrigated land of VRB covered
  13,444 ha in 2003 an increment of 958 ha is
  observed in comparison with 1990. Area affected
  by salinization (salinity) covers 7,426 ha.
• Salinity is observed in both groundwater and
  irrigated areas covering 1182 ha. Presently
  22,052 ha of irrigated area is not in
  satisfactory condition with an increment of 261
  ha from 1990. In VRB, 1,375 ha of irrigated land
  was not used in 2003, which includes 328 ha
  affected by salinity and water logging, 410 ha
  due to water shortages and 160 ha because of soil
  erosion. In 2003 168,9 thousand ha irrigated area
  (85) required improvements in irrigations
  systems. Drainage system was necessary for 2,736
  ha, where as improvements in collectors and
  drainage required for 12,011 ha of irrigated
  area. It is necessary to wash out 11,618 ha of
  heavily salted area. Similarly 95 ha needs
  protection from flooding. The potential pasture
  area in VRB is equal 24 the Tajik Pasture land
  (880 thousand ha), 60 of which is located in the
  mountain region. Water insufficiency is the
  greatest barrier for maximum utilization of
  available mountain pastures.

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Baseline information availability

• observation networks
• One of the primary goals of the hydrometeorology
  agency is to provide information on current and
  expected hydro meteorological conditions and
  climate changes, the level of pollution of the
  natural environment, and the information on hydro
  hazards in the country.
• The hydrometeorological agency provides
  information to various sectors and populations on
  current and future conditions of the natural
  environment and climate expected changes of
  hydrometeorological conditions. The information
  provided by agency is used for taking decisions
  for the agricultural planning and crop
  plantation.

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The agency provides following information

• forecast and notification the hydro-hazard
  (flood, avalanches, frosts, heavy rainfall) and
  sharp weather changes
• decadal review of the hydrometeorological
  informations and publications of agrometeorogical
  bulletin, hydrological bulletin,
• monthly review (the review hydrometric condition
  for previous month), seasonal agro-meteorological
  review
• seasonal cumulative precipitation (autumn-winter)
  and snow reserves in mountains
• information dissemination to public and private
  sectors, industry and agricultural authorities
• weather forecasts for 1-5 days, which are
  published in daily hydrometeorological bulletin,
• monthly weather forecast
• Agricultural water management and crop water
  requirement forecast
• agricultural production forecast etc
• Flow forecast in rivers

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• Thank You!

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